


Aldebaran

by candygramme



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 20:11:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9088801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candygramme/pseuds/candygramme





	

~JENSEN~

Jensen was only two days into his furlough when he received the summons. He sighed as he studied the small, studded box the summons had arrived in and turned it over in his hand before thumbing the seal and waiting for the holo to play.

There was a sting as the sensor pierced his skin to take his blood to verify and then the light sprayed from around his thumb, causing him to remove it sharply. He sucked it as he watched the summons take shape.

It was Supreme Commander Pellegrino, of course - as if it could be anyone else so close to his return.

“Glad to see you looking so much better, Ackles.” The Commander had always been one for theatrics. Jensen snorted, knowing just how long he’d spent in the cryo-tank after his recent failure of a mission. “I know it was touch and go there, but we managed to rebuild you. You look almost human.” There’s a pause and Pellegrino gave a brief chuckle, which Jensen imagined was more to indicate that he’d made a joke than that he’d found any real humor in his words.

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mind dropping by my office this afternoon. Shall we say 1300 hours?” The holo faded and Jensen stood frowning, still sucking on his thumb. There it was. It might have been couched in the most informal language possible, but he would have to go or face the consequences. He closed his eyes momentarily, knowing he was going to be sent back out to face the flames, to do whatever the scientists had dreamed up in their efforts to stop the sun on its path of destruction.

Sighing, he stood up from his couch and went to find his uniform, tossing his comfortable sweats onto the floor as he went. The uniform had been delivered along with the summons, and hung on the hook in his closet, ominous to him as he reached for it, messages of blood and flame and inadequacy lingering in the fireproof fabric. 

He looked down at his newly repaired flesh. With all the technical advances the medics had developed, they still hadn’t been able to rid him of his freckles, and they stood out now on the whiteness of his flesh, evidence of his own imperfection. He shrugged. He was imperfect, he knew that, but hopefully he would be enough for whatever was needed.

At 1300 on the nose, uniform pristine, he was presenting himself to Alaina, the Commander’s secretary. and shown into the briefing room to await Commander Pellegrino and his fate. 

He was still waiting, some 15 minutes later, and was beginning to feel uneasy at this unusual occurrence, when the door was flung open and Pellegrino rushed in, looking more dishevelled than Jensen had ever seen him. He was followed as ever by his service bot.

“Ackles! Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said as Jared rose to attention. “Easy, man, easy.” The Commander flopped down into a chair and waved at Jensen to do likewise.

“You seem to be in a hurry.” Jensen was bursting with curiosity at Pellegrino’s unusual behavior, but he was also attempting to stave off information about any upcoming missions, knowing - or at least believing - that the next one would be his last. He’d barely survived the last, and he knew he’d spent several months in cryostasis while his skin and extremities were regenerated. 

“I’ve just come from the Senate briefing,” said Pellegrino at last. “It doesn’t look good. Even with you and your team’s valuable efforts the sun is becoming more and more unstable. The latest reports show that it will go nova in the next 6 months, and Calidor will be incinerated.”

Jensen said nothing. What could one say about a message like that?

“There’s a possible solution.” Pellegrino rose and went to the serving hatch at the back of the room, fielding a bottle and two glasses before returning to pour them both a shot of thick, heady liquor. “But, to be honest, I wouldn’t blame you if you said no.” 

He snapped his fingers for the bot, and it wheeled to his side so he could thumb the projector on the top. Abruptly, the room was filled with a holo of the most immediate regions of space. Jensen recognized Alpha Centauri, and Calidor, his little planet, pathetically circling its ever more ominous sun. Beta Centauri, its huge, red companion, glimmering beside it. “See,” said the Commander, interrupting Jensen’s thoughts. “Between the two there’s an anomaly. A disturbance that seems like a distortion in the fabric of space.”

There was a pause. Jensen had no idea where this was going, so he said nothing, but his mind was racing.

“Dr. Dinwiddie believes that there is some kind of rift there which we can use to escape the flare up that is coming. She’s propounded a whole new concept in stuff I not only don’t understand, but which makes me feel really stupid, but the bottom line is that we... I want you to go investigate it and let us know back here whether or not it will help. Will you go? The worst that can happen is that you escape the sun going nova and lose your world. The best is that you might save us.”

Jensen wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but this was really nothing like it.

“Of course I’ll go.” He gave Pellegrino a smirk. “When did I ever turn down a hopeless mission?” That got the laugh he wanted, and he judged it safe to continue and ask for the answers he’d been unable to get from the cryotank staff. “Just who is left of my crew?” he asked.  
“Yes.” Pellegrino nodded. “That was my next item. I’m afraid that Olsson didn’t make it.” 

Jensen closed his eyes for a moment, remembering Ty’s sacrifice, when all had seemed lost. A flare had chased them as they patched the incinerated edges of the screen where the sun had burned through. Despite his best efforts, it had caught and engulfed them, almost reducing them to charred memories until Ty, burning, screaming and yet able enough still to punch in the flight path that had gotten them far enough away from the hell of the rogue flare had enabled them to limp back to Alpha Tau.

“He saved us.” Jensen’s voice caught. “I couldn’t. I think I was almost cooked through by then. If it hadn’t been for Ty...”

“He will be remembered.” The Commander bowed his head for a moment. “Cassidy has been home now for a day or so from her stay in the vats. Hodge is due to be released tomorrow. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to offer you our best new graduate. He’s not a replacement for Olsson of course, but you’ll find he’s a good man. His name is Abel. Ensign Jacob Abel. I’ll let you meet him, of course, but please be aware that we have little or no time to waste.”

Jensen nodded. If the Commander vouched for him, he’d be good. “Okay, boss. What time do we take off?”

~JARED~

Lying behind such cover as the huge ice-crystal gave him, Jared snapped off a shot at the rime-rider that was attempting to storm the gates of the main cave. The thing was huge, its segmented body gleaming in the low light from the failing sun.

A hissing screech signaled that he’d scored a hit on the thing, and he risked a peek around the edge of the crystal. In a flash, the creature was upon him, mouth full of jagged teeth wide, acid drool leaking from the bifurcated lower lip.

“Shouldn’t have done that,” he grunted, rolling onto his back and aiming into the creature’s rapidly descending maw, desperately throwing up his arm to cover his face in an attempt to avoid any of the corrosive saliva spattering him. The thing’s head blew apart from the explosive charge, and it toppled forward to fall across him, pinning his body to the ice.

“Guys?” He waited for his backup to come and help lift what had to be 600lbs of dead weight off him enough for him to scramble free, but there was no response. 

He tried again, shouting through his comm unit. “Hey, guys? A little help here if you don’t mind?” There was no response, it seemed as though the others had left him here to face whatever might come, and Jared began to get angry. Fumbling to reach his belt for augmentation didn’t help, and the creature had well and truly stymied that with its huge, chitinous bulk. Jared was sweating now, because night was coming, and within a few minutes there would be more rime-riders out to discover where their comrade had gone. At that time it would be too late for him to do anything save use his blaster to blow his own brains out. Rime-riders liked to digest their prey before consuming it, and that would be a slow, agonizing way of dying indeed. Certainly one that Jared had no wish to pursue.

His blaster had only expended a couple of charges, and that was in his hand. He thought for a moment and then adjusted the beam until it was pencil thin and trained it on one of the weak points between segments, hoping against hope that the charge would last out.

Slowly, very slowly, the creature’s segments began to separate, until there was only the lower layer of membrane holding them together. With a huge heave, Jared managed to scramble out from beneath the body that was pinning him down, and only just in time. As he made for the safety of the cavern and the huge, warded gates, hurriedly calling up the warding spell, a group of 6 rime-riders crested the horizon, and he could hear their hissing communications as they spotted him and accelerated to try and catch him.

For a moment he thought that the gates wouldn’t open to admit him, but after a tense waiting period during which time the rime-riders drew ever closer and in the distance he could s4ee the tracks of three approaching ice wyrms. The gates opened just enough to allow him through and then sealed themselves shut, setting up a stronger ward than he’d ever seen before.

He stood in the gateroom for a moment, allowing his breath to calm, then shook himself and turned to look for his disappearing backup. They were nowhere to be seen. Instead, a legate from the imperial guard stood, blaster aimed.

“You are to accompany me.” The guard’s sweet, high voice betrayed that he had been altered in his youth and was one of the elite, robbed of their manhood and given instead the supreme fighting skills that only the unmanned knew.

“Uh, why?” Jared frowned. “Am I to be arrested? What’s the charge?”

“My orders are only that you accompany me,” was the measured response. The legate gestured with his blaster. “And there was no demand that you should be alive upon arrival.”

Frowning, Jared moved in the direction indicated, and heard the legate follow behind him. “So you can’t tell me what this is all about?”

“I serve my master. I do not question his decisions.” 

_His..._ thought Jared. _So not the Senate. I wonder who this master of his might be._

The legate still followed, offering directions in the same, childish voice. Jared, still covered in ichor from his battle to free himself from the rime-rider, felt filthy and unfit to meet any of the ruling class. “Listen, I just had a battle to free myself from the clutches of a rime-rider. Surely your master would prefer that I come before him clean and well-groomed? I should visit my quarters and change at the very least.”

“If my master wishes, then so it shall be,” was the legate’s response, and Jared found himself growing more and more angry, however, within another minute, the pair had reached an archway guarded by a further pair of legates. He’d never been past the archway and had no idea what lay beyond, but he was beginning to feel anxious now.. As far as he knew he had done nothing worthy of disciplinary action. Shrugging his shoulders, he stepped between the two guards and felt rather than saw them raise a ward as they passed through.

 

They followed a passageway that held niches where guards were stationed every few yards and it seemed like forever before they arrived at a pair of huge metal doors. The legate stopped. “Enter,” he said. 

“I don’t get it,” muttered Jared. The doors were of dull grey metal, heavily riveted around the frame and embellished with a gleaming golden emblem designed to portray the sun as it had been before it had begun to die. The image was split between the two doors, designed to part in the center. As he gazed at it, the doors began to open, noiseless and smooth despite their heavy appearance.

“Enter,” said the legate once again, and Jared sighed, stepping forward towards the widening crack and jumping as they clanged shut behind him.

Before him lay a room that was much smaller than he’d expected. It was almost filled with a projection of their world, the red sun looming above at ceiling level, a red, angry eye. Jared caught his breath as he gazed at the image that was suspended before him..

“Is it not impressive?” The voice came from behind him and made him jump. He spun around.

“Oh, man! I didn’t hear you. Where did you come from?”

“We are always here.” The man who spoke wore red robes, and his face, although lined, was youthful. He had dark hair that was turning white at the temples and a well trimmed beard that also showed grey. He was grinning, his teeth white and his eyes twinkling with good humor.

“We?” Jared’s eyes widened as he saw the two figures who had come to stand behind the one who had spoken to him. “Oh, Gods! The Triumvirate.” 

All through his life Jared had been told stories of the Triumvirate. They ruled Tenebros. They were watching him. They judged and passed sentence. They were the highest mystery and existed without being seen. What he saw didn’t fit his mental image of the Triumvirate, but he felt a chill trickle down his spine at the thought that he was here with them. Was he to be judged.

“Yes, indeed.” The man - The Priest - spoke again. “We’ve watched you with great interest recently.”

There was nothing Jared could say in answer. For the first time in his life he was completely without words as he thought madly. Had he transgressed in any way? Was he now to be judged and somehow found guilty.

“You’re afraid, but you needn’t be.” The speaker this time was a tall woman with dark hair that curled out from beneath the bandage that covered her eyes to fall in clouds around her shoulders. She wore purple, and she was beautiful, with full red lips and skin the color of coffee with cream. Her voice was rich, deep and musical, and held a note of amusement that helped Jared relax a little - at least until she spoke again. “Or at least, not about us. I’ve seen into you, and you’re the one we’ve waited for. That’s what should scare you.”

“Duly noted,” he murmured, and the third man threw back his head and laughed, making him tense up once again.

“Come on.” The third wore metallic coverings and a helmet that hid his hair completely. He was stocky and muscular, and had a short beard that gave him the look of a soldier just returned from war, and with a shudder Jared realized that was exactly who he was. This was indeed The Triumvirate, The Soldier, The Priest and the Judge. He swallowed nervously, but then followed The Soldier around the globe of the world to where a small sitting area was tucked at the back of the room. 

The three took seats, and Jared stood nervously, still aware of his filthy armor and his grimy hands and face. Finally, the priest shook his head and told him, “Sit down. You make the place look untidy.”

The command acted like a severing of the strings holding him upright, and Jared collapsed onto the couch behind him. The woman nodded.

“There. That’s better. Don’t worry about the furnishings, they’ll be okay. They’ve seen a lot worse than rime-rider spit.” Jared frowned. Maybe he was delirious. Maybe the rime-rider had poisoned him after all and he was hallucinating prior to being dissolved by the thing’s saliva. He hadn’t heard that this was an effect, but then he really wouldn’t, would he.

If it was a hallucination, he’d take it while it lasted and hope that the pain, when it came, would be fleeting.

“I’ll be honest with you,Jared. We need you.” The Priest gave him another of his charming smiles. “There’s a prophecy. There’s also a crisis.”

“What do they have to do with me, your... worship?” Jared was completely at a loss. He had no idea why he was being considered for anything at all, and he wasn’t quite sure how to address these people who seemed to know so much more about him than he did about them.

The Priest laughed at that. “Call me Jeff,” he said. “That’s Lisa, and he’s Richard. We can’t be serious if you’re going to go all formal on us.”

“And believe me, we’re going to be serious.” That was Richard speaking as he lolled back into the corner of the high-winged chair he was occupying and allowed his legs to dangle over the arm of it. “We’ve seen the end of the world as we know it approaching. You can’t get more serious than that.”

Lisa took up the tale as Jared frowned. “It’s been coming for years. We’ve put stronger and stronger wards out as the rime-riders become more active, but we’re getting to the stage that they are more powerful than we are.” She shook her head. “I would say that before the world undergoes another passage of the moon, they will have succeeded in breaking through the wards, and we won’t be able to stop them.”

“Once they break through, the ice-wyrms will follow, and there will be nothing left of us.” Jeff added his comment, face suddenly solemn.

“But that’s where you come in.” Richard nodded. “Even I could not have accomplished what you did today. You defeated the enemy and when you were encumbered you broke free.” He clapped his hands a couple of times. “But more than that. We held the re-entry ward as fast and tight as we could, and still you broke through. As Lisa has already seen, you’re the One.”

“Are you telling me you guys deliberately locked me out to see what I’d do?” Jared sounded somewhat ticked.

“That’s exactly what we did,” said Jeff.

“What if I’d died?” Jared asked, understandably outraged.

“Then you would not have been the One,” said Lisa with a smirk.

“What one?” Jared was getting impatient with non-answers. “Are you telling me that today was some kind of test?”

“It certainly was, but only to convince these other two fools that I was right,” said Lisa. “There’s the matter of the prophecy. It states that the Seers will know when a warrior will come and break the spell, find the golden one and restore the sun. As head of the Seers I see you, Jared, and I know that it’s you.” Her voice turned teasing. “My esteemed colleagues here were doubtful, but I was certain, and so I arranged a little demonstration of your abilities. You are the One. They agree with me now, even though you would think that they should know better than to argue with a woman.”

Richard rose to his feet all nonchalance gone from his posture. “Let me show you the task that must be undertaken if we are to survive.” He moved over to the globe. This is where Tenebros is,” he said. He indicated a valley on the equator of the icy planet. “And this is where we believe you must go.” The place where he was pointing was situated at one of the poles of the planet, and Jared could see that there was some kind of disturbance going on around the location that distorted the immediate area.

“”The prophecy says that a soldier will come who will command the wards with blood. He will break through the barrier and find the Golden One.” Lisa’s voice had taken on a hollow quality, as if she was in fact prophesying. “Once that happens, and the two become one, the barriers will fall, the sun will be restored, and Tenebros will become Aurora. Then we will be able to accept the seekers that the Golden One will bring.”

Jared moved over to look over Richard’s shoulder, analyzing the distances, the topographical problems and the time it would take. “You need this to happen within a single moon?” he asked. “It’s a hell of a long way to go, and I’m going to have to sleep sometimes.”

“Not a problem.” Jeff stepped up to stand between the two of them. “We have developed a sled powered by wards in anticipation of this day. It can travel very rapidly, and it will allow space for your team. We estimate that if you are able to travel at full speed it will take you around 15 days to reach the anomaly here. Once there, we can’t tell how much longer it will take, but our seers have been able to tell what will happen.

“I get a team? Well that’s something.” Jared looked at Lisa, and didn’t like the smile she directed at him. “I suppose you’ve preselected them as well,” he grumbled.

“You’re psychic,” she said and giggled. “We have indeed selected your team.” 

“I will be one,” said Richard, stepping around Jeff and offering his hand. “I will not let a volunteer face peril and almost certain death without offering myself.”

“If you fail, there will hardly be need for a triumvirate,” murmured Jeff. “It makes sense that you take the best with you.”

“Your second will be Sebastian.” Richard announced his selection as if Jared should know who that was. “We asked him to bring you to us,” he added.

“You mean the eunuch?” Jared shook his head so fast he was sure it would come loose from its moorings and fly off his shoulders. “He was going to shoot me. I don’t know that he’d be very reliable in a battle.”

“You will grow to appreciate Sebastian’s .skills with a blade,” laughed Richard. “I’d bet him against even me in a fight with blades.”

“Do I get any picks for this junket?” Even as he asked, Jared was sure that the answer was no, but when Lisa giggled his heart still sank.

“Sorry, darling,” she said. “Although the last is a friend of yours, I believe. It’s Murray.”

“Oh, fuck me. Chad?” Jared rolled his eyes. “You think Chad’s going to tear himself away from the delights of Tenebros to face the cold, the dying sun and monsters of all kinds with their only desire to make me and my pals into brunch?”

“I know so,” said Lisa. “He has already agreed.”

“Oh, Stars!” Jared shook his head. “Now I know that this is just a hallucination. I guess the rime-rider got me after all.”

“Enough.” Jeff clapped him on the shoulder. “You should go and pack. You leave at dawn.”

~JENSEN~

Pellegrino had told Jensen to be ready to leave in the morning, since it would take a little while to render the new FTL ship ready for take-off. He’d gone to bed early, still suffering the residual aches and sensitivity of too-new skin covering recently damaged bones. He was startled awake by vigorous pounding on his cubicle door, and as he dragged himself awake he recognized the voice yelling his name. 

Stumbling to the door he pushed it open a crack, not sure if he wanted to let Katie, his navigator and full-time nag in to interrupt his final few hours of rest.

He had no choice. She had her foot in the door and was muscling through it before he succeeded in shaking himself awake enough to fight back.

“What the fuck, Ackles?” He could barely see her in the dark of his room, but her voice was high, tense, and he could tell that she was scared to death. She rained down a flurry of blows on his chest. “I only got out of Cryo this morning. I can’t... We can’t...”

“At ease, Katie, for God’s sake.” Jensen succeeded in grabbing her hands and holding them, more by luck than judgment, and he pulled her in close to him, holding her in an attempt to stop her struggling. “We have to go out, but we’re not going to the shields this time.”

She stopped trying to hit him and froze. He could still feel the fine tremors running through her slight frame, but she made no attempt to escape his hold. “We’re not? Where then?”

“Out into the unknown, my girl. One of the brains thinks there’s a wormhole or something that will save us. Pellegrino said that the sun has started its final stage towards going nova, and we’ve only got a few weeks unless we do something, so they’re giving us an FTL ship and we’re gonna go find this wormhole and save humanity.”

She suddenly sat down on his bed, her hands covering her face. “What if we don’t...”

“I guess if we don’t, we’ll see the show from a safe distance, and it’ll be all over.” Jensen shook his head. “Let’s not borrow trouble. Let’s just go find this wormhole thing and hope to God it isn’t full of things with tentacles that like to eat human flesh.”  
“Oh my GOD shut up!” She threw his pillow at him as he snickered, pleased that he’d managed to divert her fear even if only for a moment. “If I get eaten by a tentacle beast, I’m blaming you with my dying breath.”

“Duly noted,” he replied, shoving her over as he climbed back onto his bed. “But get some sleep now. We have to go spring Aldis first thing tomorrow and tell him he’s going straight out again. Also, we’re going to be introduced to this new guy, Abel. He’s taking over Nav.”

“Abel?” she thought for a moment. “Do you mean Jake? I met him at one of the socials. He’s fun.” her brow creased. “I guess he’s Ty’s replacement.”

“Nobody will ever replace Ty. He’s the new navigator, that’s all.” growled Jensen, yawning. “Get some sleep now.”

He didn’t object when she snuggled down beside him, and within moments he was sleeping once more.

~*~

Morning came soon enough, with the sky sour and brassy as they climbed topside. The sun was a searing reminder that their planet was in danger, and Jensen felt queasy as he remembered their desperate attempts to escape its reach.

Pellegrino was waiting for them as they emerged from the gatehouse into the heat of the day. They’d collected Aldis from his sojourn in the cryolab a bare half hour before, and he still had the cryopatch over his left eye, indicating that his healing was not yet quite complete.

“Good to see you.” The commander saluted them briefly. “All three of you are heroes, and you bought us at least a couple of weeks of desperately needed time with your selfless actions. I’m sorry we have to ask one more mission of you, but you are the only ones that can save us.” 

He turned away from them, leading them over to where a glassite dome, opaqued with coridonium, stood at the far end of the pathway. “We’ll meet with your new crew member in just a moment or two, and Dr. Dinwiddie is going to show you how the new ship functions.”

Jensen looked around himself, committing the view of Calidor to memory. There was little or no vegetation left that hadn’t been burned away as their hostile sun had grown closer, ever hotter. There were skeletons of trees on the horizon, and as he watched, he could see smoke rising as one patch of ground caught fire and began to smolder. Love it or not, he knew that this was the last time he would gaze on his home planet. 

The inside of the dome went a long way down from ground level, and held a small, oddly shaped ship at its center, surrounded by a scurrying army of engineers, all wearing the Spaceforce uniform, each with his or her own task. Somewhat behind it stood what seemed to be a large doorway with an ever changing series of flickering symbols above it and to the side. Several people were working on a panel at the left hand side of it. 

As they entered someone called out, ‘Company! Eyes above!’ As a man, the bustling came to a halt and there was a definite shout of “Hurrah’ from the assembled workers, followed by a burst of applause as the Commander and his three companions began to descend the long flight of metal steps to the floor of the hanger.

As he reached the foot of the steps, Pellegrino turned to face them. “It seems fitting that this will be my final act as your commanding officer.” He cleared his throat. “No matter what befalls us, your loyalty and heroism will serve to inspire us all until the world is nothing but cinders.” He gestured to a nearby soldier, who came forward bearing a large box. From it, Pellegrino took three medals and moving from one to the other, pinned them onto their uniforms.

The three hadn’t been expecting anything of this kind, but each summoned up the presence of mind to salute as they received the medal, although Jensen reflected that it really didn’t mean anything.

Finally, the young man who had brought the commander their medals was introduced to them as their new Navigator, Ensign Abel. They had only the briefest moment to greet him before they were led over to where the entrance to the ship gaped open.

“She’s ready to go. Abel’s been briefed on the destination coordinates. Once you arrive, Dr. Dinwiddie will assemble the gate, and we’ll hopefully begin to bring everyone through.” Pellegrino gestured at the hatchway, where a tall, exotic looking woman dressed in fatigues was waving at them. “She’s going with you. It’s her plan, so I’ll let her tell you all about the gates,” he said. “Just hurry. It’s getting rather warm down here.”

“You truly believe that this will be successful?” Katie had never been particularly tactful at the best of times.

“I have to, Cassidy. I really do.”

~*~

The ship was elegant, its controls simple, and it wasn’t long before Jensen was satisfied that it wouldn’t be a problem to pilot. Aldis and Dr. Dinwiddie had taken a tour of the engine, and Aldis was bouncing with enthusiasm at the simplicity of anti-grav. and FTL engine that powered her.

Katie was examining the armor and firepower she had and cooing over the computer system that would, in her words, make frying those tentacles into calamari a breeze. Jake, as he’d told the others to call him, was getting their flightpath locked into the system and ready, referring over and over to a commtab he had strapped to his belt.

“Twenty four hours,” he said to nobody in particular. “It’s only going to take us twenty four hours to get there if all goes well.”

“All done?” Jensen looked around and as each member of the crew nodded their assent, he picked up the controller and spoke to the command deck down in the hanger. “We’re ready to go,” he said. “Just let us know when.”

“Stand by.” Pellegrino’s voice was loud and clear.

Everyone was finding their seat, strapping themselves in ready for the take-off, and what was apparently the ship’s maiden voyage. It seemed to Jensen that they were guinea pigs as well as an exploratory expedition - wild goose chase- and that if they exploded with a bang their world would probably no worse off. 

The roof of the hanger rolled smoothly out of their way, and a Pellegrino murmured a final, “Good luck. Off you go!” Jensen cut in the engine.

He’d expected a sound - the traditional roar as the engine did its work to nullify gravity. Instead, there was silence and the ship bounced upwards, light as a soap bubble. They were almost free of the atmosphere, when he suddenly realized they were underway.

“Okay, Jake, where are we heading?” Jake said nothing, merely flipped the switch that brought up the flight path. “Thanks,” murmured Jensen, turning the ship to head away from the marauding sun and into the vastness of space.

~JARED~

The nights were the worst, of course. Jared dreaded the nights. They were cold, colder than a witches tit, as Chad kept telling him, but that wasn’t why he dreaded them.

His choice would have been to travel by night and sleep through the daytime, but that was made impossible by the ice-wyrms and, as they drew nearer their destination, the dragons. The wyrms slithered ceaselessly about, homing in on anything that moved and devouring it in their pathway. The nights were often disturbed by cries of agony or terror as some benighted creature was caught and devoured by the horrible beasts.

They were, as near as he could fathom it, a day out from their destination. They had stopped as the sun went down and had begun to spread the insulating blanket on the frozen ground, prior to climbing into their sleeping bags beneath the covers made from the chitinous carapaces of the rime-riders. Those covers were the only way for their small expedition to disguise their scent from the vile creatures that roamed the night, but for Jared, they represented the flimsiest protection from the horrors that roamed after dark.

As Jared slipped beneath the protective shell of his rime-rider coverlet, he began to prepare himself for sleep as he always did, praying to Telchur that he would make it to their destination without loss of life. Chad was on his left under his own carapace, and Jared could hear him snoring already. Sebastian had set himself up on his other side, and was chanting to Telchur himself as he got himself ready for sleep. Richard, apparently didn’t need sleep, because he had elected once again to remain on watch, was prowling about their camp, watching for any marauding creatures that might attack them. The two female warriors,Sandra and Samantha, who had been chosen to accompany them by Richard, had elected to sleep together under the same cover, and were somewhere nearby. 

His sleeping bag was thick and warm, its layers of insulation cocooned a warm, cosy interior, and Jared squirmed inside, grateful to be able to leave off his body armor and still stay warm.

Earlier, they had melted the ice and washed themselves, all modesty left behind as the urgency of their trek became paramount, but Jared hadn’t felt really clean since leaving Tenebros, and to escape the armor was a luxury even here in the wilderness.

We’re getting close. 

The voice sounded almost as if the speaker was beside him in his shell. He sat up. “Who’s there?”

Did you hear something, Jake?

“Who’s Jake?” Jared looked about himself wildly. There was nobody visible, and Jared knew full well that there would be nobody outside of their small group stupid enough to be out in this Telchur-forsaken spot overnight. He shrugged himself back under the covers and lay down, composing himself for sleep. Hearing voices was about par for the course these days.

Warmth enveloped him. He was drowsy but not yet asleep, but his mind turned to a place he’d never seen, and people he didn’t know. In his mind’s eye, he saw a room that was unlike anything within his experience. There was a console at one end, and several chairs that partially obscured it. He could see a dark skinned man with a patch covering one eye in the background, drinking from a tall bottle with a straw, and then another, whose skin was as pale as the other’s was dark, with a dusting of little, golden dots across his nose.

I keep feel like I’m being watched.

I could watch you forever, Jared thought, and saw the other man jerk, looking around as if someone had spoken to him. “Interesting,” he said to himself, and then sleep took him, obliterating anything further.

~*~

Jared woke earlier than usual the following morning, to the sound of an ice-dragon sniffing around their camp. At one point he swore that the wretched thing stood on him as he lay curled under his covers. It seemed like forever when he finally heard it take to the air and fly off, its harsh, rasping cry signaling its intent to roost.

Studying his astrolabe and mentally calculating their position, he realized that they were almost at their destination. “We’ll be there in a couple of hours unless something nasty holds us up, he called to the others, who were busily packing their sleeping bags and covers onto the sled.

“Can’t be soon enough for me,” grumbled Chad, clapping his hands together to shake off the fresh snow that had fallen in the night. “I like my comforts, and this is really not what you’d call comfortable.”

“Oh, boo hoo,” snapped Sebastian, who was fighting to tie the equipment down onto the sled. “IT’ll do you good. Make a man out of you.”

“Ooh!” Sandra, barely visible under the piles of equipment she was carrying, staggered up to the sled. “Will it make one out of me too? I always did want to be able to pee standing up.”

“Oh, just shut up!” Sebastian stuffed her load under the tarp that covered their things. “Let’s just get going. I can’t wait to see what’s at the other end of this wild goose chase.”

Finally packed away and ready to march, they set off towards their destination. It wasn’t long before he heard the voice from last night, even louder than it had been. 

Another hour and we’ll be there. Jared wondered who he was, and where he was going, but he didn’t speak, because he needed his breath to stay upright on the rough, uneven ground of the ice field. He could see his destination now, or what he thought was his destination, a tall outcrop of rock that seemed clear of the ice and snow, rearing its dark form above the snowy plain.

“Come on! If we push we can be there in another hour.” The others all groaned, but quickened their pace, and the rocky monolith grew larger and larger as they approached it.

Who are you? Where are you going? This time, he saw ghostly shapes as he heard the words. Frowning, he blinked, attempting to clear his vision, wondering if the cold had affected it somehow.

“I’m Jared, and I’m going to the site of the prophecy. Who are you?”

Jensen, was the reply. Then a woman’s voice called out, Look out! and he heard no more.

~*~

~JENSEN~

“Look out,” yelled Katie.

The space in front of them suddenly shimmered and glowed, and before Jensen could attempt to turn them it engulfed them, ship and all. It seemed to Jensen that they were being drawn into a well composed of brilliant colors. It might have been days or only minutes that they spent being sucked into the whirling abyss of the anomaly. Katie crouched by her console, hand pressed over her ears as she whimpered. There was a swelling sound that rose higher and higher, but Jensen stood gazing at the viewscreen. He could see shapes in the flickering colors, a man wrapped in an insulated one piece suit that seemed molded to his well formed body. He wore a helmet that obscured his face, but Jensen craved the sight of him.

“What the hell?” Aldis was picking himself up from the floor, where he’d fallen when they were first dragged into the wormhole. “One minute it wasn’t even there, and the next minute it bit us.”

Traci had poked her head out of the engine room. “I knew there was something there. I wonder where it’s taking us.” She wandered over to peek at the nav console, but the readout made no sense. Numbers flew by without any apparent meaning, and she gave up to stand beside Jensen and watch their progress on the viewscreen.

Their newest crew member gazed in awe from the place where he was sitting. He seemed to be mesmerized by what was happening, but he was the first one to yell when they finally dropped out into space.

“What the fuck?” Jake was pointing, his finger shaking as he indicated the view on the viewscreen. “We’re back where we started!”

Indeed, they could see the shields in the brassy sky above them. Katie had stumbled to her feet, and she peered at the nav con. “Looks like we’re right over the pole,” she said, her voice scratchy.

The ship was losing altitude rapidly, and despite Jensen’s best efforts to pull her up, it continued to fall. “It’s like she’s got a will of her own,” he said, “Aldis, what’s wrong with her?”

“She’s running smoothly. Nothing wrong with the engine.” Aldis stuck his head out from the engine room, where he’d headed when he’d seen Jensen’s troubles.

“She’s coming down. Stand by.” Jensen was still attempting to steer, but the ship seemed to know where it was going, and it came to rest on a plain of glassy silicate, fused by the extreme heat of the sun. From the center - it might even have been the pole, protruded a tall, rocky monolith, flat topped and glittering from the inclusions in the rock.

“I guess we should go find out why we’re here.” That was Traci, and she was already moving to the hatch, intent on leaving the vessel and heading to the nearby monolith. “I read something about this in a very old book. Looks like we’re onto something after all. What did it say?”

“Wait!” Jensen was hurrying, grabbing his laser rifle, his portable shield and his helmet. “You can’t just go out there like that. Go and get yourself suited up.”

She pouted, but obediently went to the locker to find a thermal suit, while Jensen walked out onto the smooth, glassy surface. The heat was almost enough to send him back, and he felt the sweat start, dripping into his eyes. It was only a moment later when a dragon swooped in, obviously thinking he would make a better meal than the sand shrews and foxes that were all that lived in these desolate regions. He aimed his laser rifle and blasted the creature in the one part of the neck that made it vulnerable. It careened down to the ground, and Jensen went to make sure it was actually dead. While he was dealing with it, the others, all now clad in their heat resistant suits, emerged from the shelter of the ship.

“We need to find out why we’re here,” said Jensen.

“”This monolith is sending out very similar signals to the anomaly,” announced Traci, consulting a gauge she had in her hand. “There seems to be some kind of feedback loop going on between the two. I’m trying to remember what that old book said. Try for the stars, but find your soul within the earth... something like that anyway.”

“Whatever.” Sebastian emerged from the maw of the ship and looked around. “Still bloody hot, isn’t it?”

“Come on. Since we’ve been brought here, I guess we should find out why.” Jake was making for the monolith, beginning to walk around it, and Jensen followed, temporarily suspending his worry that they would be too late to act in any way that would benefit the people who were still expecting their help.

Up close, the monolith seemed to glow, radiating light from somewhere within its silicate interior. There were glowing silver veins, tiny, sparkling patches like gems and other areas that seemed to absorb the light entirely, presenting a black, velvety appearance that mirrored space itself.

“Wow.” Jensen raised his hand to run a gloved finger across one such patch and heard the same utterance inside his mind, spoken by that other whose thoughts he’d experienced earlier.

“Hey, come see this!” Jake was shouting from somewhere on the opposite side of the monolith, and Jensen took off running, hoping to make sure that Jake was okay. 

“Jake! What the fuck? Why have you separated from the group?” He ran faster when there was no reply, and Aldis followed, both of them very aware of the dangers that lurked. It was further than it had looked, and as they rounded the jagged corner, Jensen could see a very dangerous situation unfolding in front of him. Jake was crouching with his back to the basalt of the monolith, and above him were two of the dragons, while drawing up towards him was a wyrm.

“Got your blaster?” Aldis was pulling his laser rifle off his back as he spoke, and without a further word he dropped to his knees and sighted, firing at the closest dragon and virtually severing its head from its shoulders. Jensen ran on, hoping to get close enough to take out the wyrm, since Jake seemed to be dealing with the second dragon.

He fired, fired again, watched as the wyrm shook off the effects of his attack and redoubled its attempts to get to Jake. Diamond teeth glittered in the shimmering heat.Jake finally succeeded in bringing the second dragon down, but the wyrm was close now, rearing above Jake, triangular head set to strike as Jensen sent one last blast from his laser rifle. It was too late. Jake fired too, scoring a shot deep in the creature’s gullet, and the wyrm shrieked and bent to impale him on its fangs even as it writhed in its death throes. Blood, rich and red, spattered the rock against which Jake was lying. All Jensen could do was watch, helpless as the wyrm’s poison did its work, leaving the two lying together in death.

Jensen was about to order them all back to the ship, when he caught sight of what must have been the thing Jake had been so excited about.

There was a perfectly symmetrical six pointed star carved into the face of the monolith, and unlike the basalt that surrounded it, the star was glowing red. “Aldis, look,” he said, and just at that moment he heard the voice again. 

Chad, look!

~*~

~JARED~

“Chad, Look!”

Jared touched the face of the massive rock, and jerked his hand back as if he’d been bitten, fingertips tingling as if some electric current had passed through them. 

“The damned thing bit me ,when I touched it.”

“Huh?” Chad reached out and poked at the spot where Jared had placed his fingers, then shrugged and laid his hand against it. “See, it likes me. I think it wants me to pet it.”

“Weird.” Reaching out to touch it again, the shock to Jared’s hand was even stronger this time, sending him staggering back and away from the rock and onto the ice.

Sebastian had rounded the pillar and was talking with Richard, who was a few steps behind him, when there was a deafening screech, and a dragon - most likely the dragon that they had eluded during the night, dropped like an arrow towards where Chad stood, prodding and stroking the rock in an attempt to make it treat him the way it had treated Jensen.

Jared scrambled backwards on his ass, yelling for Chad and fumbling for his blaster, which had fallen from its holster to land underneath him. He had hit the ground half on it, and his hip was at that very moment complaining about it. He rolled, grabbed for it, firing as he went. At the same time, Richard yelled out a warning and Sebastian fired, searing rays emitting from his blaster.

Too late. Chad was turning, in the act of looking around to see what the yelling was all about, when the dragon hit. The combined fire was enough to boil the dragon’s icy blood, but the momentum of its dive continued, and the thing barreled into Chad, crushing him against the rock face, smearing the stony surface with blood and ichor in equal measure as the dragon, dead by now, collided with the man it had intended to devour.

Jared was never more grateful for the suit he wore. Spattered with the dragon’s juices, he knew that if it touched his skin it would eat through within seconds. It didn’t help his vision, however. There were liberal spatters across his visor, and he fumbled to wipe it clean enough to see through it left craters in the plexiglass and made his gloves smoke.

It was Richard who came over to spray him clean with a canister of compressed air and help him to his feet as he looked at the place where Chad had died. There was no way to recover his friend’s body, because the dragon’s corrosive blood was already dissolving it, but the place against the cliff was covered in blood that was already crystallizing in the cold. He stumbled over to it, lifted a hand to touch.

“Awww, Chad,” he mumbled. 

As his hand touched the rock, there was a sound that emanated from somewhere deep within the monolith and vibrated the earth around them. It was the kind of deep resonant tolling that made the teeth ache and rattled the earth around them. There were cracking sounds as icicles dropped and the ice field began to shatter. There were higher sounds, shattering as the shards of ice began to raise in a crazy dance that was a response to the noise.

Jared felt a tingle in his hand, and pulled it back, except that it seemed to be stuck, indeed, it seemed to be sinking into the rock.The others had all gathered around him by now, and Jared pulled, trying to step back. It seemed that resisting hastened the process, and Jared found that his entire arm was almost engulfed before he realized that. 

He still felt the pull, but could find no way of halting it. Sandy and Sam tried firing at the rock, but there was no discernable effect. As his head was slowly engulfed, Jared thought he heard Richard whisper, “The Prophecy.”

~JENSEN~

“The Prophesy.”

Jensen wasn’t quite sure where the voice was coming from. He looked around but could only see Aldis, who was anxiously scanning the skies in case of another attack. Traci and Katie were just rounding the monolith, and too far away to have spoken.

“I think this thing is playing tricks with my hearing,” he said, reaching to touch the glowing star. “Maybe this hunk of rock here somehow amplifies speech, and someone out there in the desert said something about a prophesy. Did you hear it?”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Aldis shook his head as he turned towards Jensen. And then, “Hold on, Jensen! Don’t...”

As Jensen’s fingertips met the shining motif in the rock, the glow from it intensified, flared, enveloping Jensen in brilliant light. There was a singing in his ears as if some high energy power source was beginning to overload. He felt weightless, unable to move as his body was first pulled back against the rock and then, much to his horror, into it.

There were cries in the distance, first Aldis’s, and then as his faded others. The fear he’d been feeling earlier faded as what was happening to him seemed not to be harmful. He felt as though he was floating in the light that surrounded him, and somehow he knew that he was the sun. He could feel the great anger possessing him even though it was not his own, the desire to burn everything there was. He drew a breath and tried to calm himself down.

“No. That isn’t right.” He thought of the battles his crew had faced against their rapacious sun, of Ty, whose bravery had saved their lives at the expense of his own. Of Katie, who would probably never marry the one she loved, and of Jake, who had died so senselessly. He recalled his guitar, wished for it right then and there, so he could play some of his favorite songs to show just how much beauty there was in the world and beyond. He thought of the beauty he found in space, the distant stars he might never visit, and the wonders of the one which he called home, and felt a faint regret and deep sadness replace the previous fury he had been sensing.

The light faded, slowly muting until he could open his eyes at last and look around.

He was lying on the floor in a cavern, or so it seemed. The remaining light was soft and did not appear to emanate from a particular source, it just was. The walls of the place where he now found himself were the same black, faintly gleaming rock that the monolith was made from. On one side was a wall of a different material. It too had an inner sheen, but it appeared to be translucent, something like the plexiglass modesty screens that were used to keep out prying eyes in showers and bed-spaces back at the barracks.

Shrugging, he sat up, methodically moving each separate part as he checked himself over to make sure nothing was injured or missing. For a while he worked in silence, then suddenly the voice he’d been hearing on and off for the last little while suddenly said, “What do you want from me?”

~JARED~

“What do you want from me?”

Pulled into the rock, Jared found himself flailing impotently, unable to fathom where his limbs were in the apparent void where he was suspended. There was darkness all around him, suffocating and unrelenting, and when he called out, he felt a great sadness press upon him, a futility of being that was so all consuming that he cried out wordlessly.

Time passed slowly, and Jared sank into a listless melancholy, at first unable to shake off the depression that threatened to devour him. It took him all he had to resist the sense of aimless loss and push back. Whatever was pushing the feelings on him, they weren’t his. He was lively, active rather than lethargic. His whole life had been of finding joy in life. He imagined the excitement of battling the wyrms, of outwitting them and saving his people. He recalled the joy he felt when he exercised, feeling the smooth muscles work at his command and the way that the endorphins that bathed his muscles felt following a workout. He thought of his appreciation for the beauty of his dying world and his desperate desire to save it from the destruction that seemed so inevitable. He recalled love from his family and the way that music made him want to dance. He remembered sex and the pleasure of it.

The devastating numbness gradually eased and the faint beginnings of curiosity took their place. Slowly, a faint light began to radiate, growing stronger by degrees. Jared felt solid ground beneath him, and as he looked around himself he finally began to distinguish his whereabouts.

Hematite surrounded him, and to his right he could see a glowing wall that seemed to be made of ice in which granules of gold had been suspended. Pushing himself up to standing, he crossed the room to take a look at it.

“What is this? Am I a prisoner?”

He jumped back in surprise. His voice apparently had an echo - or maybe not. Peering through the icy wall, he could see movement.

He stepped back up close and squinted to try and make out who or what was on the other side of the barrier. It wasn’t possible to make out details, but it was plain that the presence on the other side of the wall was humanoid and that it was trying to see through the wall too. He lifted his hand, poked at the wall and there was a little flare of light. Frowning, he did it again and a further lightshow was his reward. After a few moments, he dropped his arm as the creature on the other side of the wall emulated him, creating what seemed to be multicolored sparks on his side.

“Let’s try this,” he murmured, stripping off one of his gloves. He raised his hand, unsure of what he was doing, and on the opposite side he could see the other mirroring his actions. As their palms came together on each side of the barrier, there was a dull booming sound as if a huge gong had been struck, and for a moment, the very rock beneath them trembled, then, with a loud crack, the barrier between the two of them split, shattered, flew apart in so many shards and gradually vanished, leaving the two of them frozen where they stood, palm pressed against palm.

Jared stared at the creature before him. He was human, that much was obvious, and he was beautiful, with wide green eyes, thickly fringed with dark lashes, a nose that might once have been straight but which had apparently been broken somewhere down the line, because there was the slightest kink in it. His mouth, currently forming a shocked ‘o’, was lush, with candy-pink lips, full and plump. He wore a sand colored jumpsuit with many pockets and loops for equipment. As Jared stared in admiration, the vision spoke.

“What just happened?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s part of the prophecy.” Jared couldn’t take his eyes off the other man. “I’m Jared,” he added, extending his hand towards the other.

There was a brief tingling as the other took it. The gong like sound came again and both men shivered.

“I... Hi. I’m Jensen.” Jared still had hold of Jensen’s hand. It felt warm in his grasp, and as though it fit. He didn’t want to let it go. Jensen gazed down on where their hands were joined and blushed. “What are you doing here in this god-forsaken part of Calidor?”

“Calidor? What’s Calidor?” Jared frowned. “Until about half an hour ago I was standing in an ice field, looking up at a big piece of rock I found at the ass-end of Tenebros and wondering whether the rest of my crew were going to be able to make it back without any more casualties.”

“Calidor’s my world, and My team and I were trying to save it. Somehow we ended up here, too. I already lost my navigator, not that I need him to find my way home on my own world.” Jared squeezed the hand that he still held, then attempted to pull it away. It wasn’t happening. Try as he might to release Jensen, he couldn’t do it, in fact their hands seemed to be held together by some compulsion.

“That’s weird.” Jared muttered, slowly relaxing his muscles as he stopped fighting against the force that had them bound together.

“Tell me what hasn’t been weird about this whole thing.”Jensen said, smirking. “The one thing I’m getting from the experience is that we might as well do what it wants us to do, because there’s no point in fighting it.”

“We’re a part of the prophecy,” said Jared. “We’re supposed to bring the world back to life.”

~JENSEN~

“A prophecy?” Jensen thought back to the things that Traci had said during their flight to the anomaly. He didn’t think she’d mentioned a prophecy per se, but he hadn’t really been listening, so anxious had he been to find a way of rescuing his people. She’d been going on about something once they’d landed too. He wracked his brains, trying to remember it and decide whether it was something important.  
“Yeah.” Jared fumbled a piece of paper from a pocket in his sleeve, spreading the folds open awkwardly with one hand. “A soldier will come to command the wards, annointing them with blood. He will break through the barrier and find the Golden One. When the two become one, the barriers will fall, the sun will be restored, and Tenebros will become Aurora. Then light and dark will become whole once again.”

As he read, his voice took on a hollow quality, the sound of it reverberating around the chamber in which they stood, and by the time he was done both were well aware that something utterly beyond their knowledge was happening.

“So you and I...” Jensen’s voice was soft but that same echo sounded at his words.

“I’m guessing that you’re the golden one,” said Jared, smiling.

“And if we become one, the worlds will be saved?” Jensen was shaking his head. “This is really bad sci-fi. Think MST3K level bad, only we’re missing the robots.” He looked at Jared, a appraisal in his eyes. For a long time he just studied Jared’s lean form, but finally his expression softened, and he grinned. “I usually demand at least dinner and a movie before I put out.”

“I’ll owe you one.” Jared began to unlock the magnetic strips that secured his thermal suit, and Jensen’s eyes widened as his movements began to reveal sinewy, whipcord muscles that lay like ropes on his broad shoulders, followed by a powerful chest. Jensen watched him, fascinated, and then began to emulate him. 

His heart was beginning to pound, and he felt unaccountably nervous. He was not a small man by any means, but he felt unaccountably fragile next to this utterly huge man.

As Jared’s suit slowly came away from his body, Jensen held his breath, his eyes half closed as he watched, dry mouthed. His own suit unfastened with a single zipper that ran from neck to groin once the studs were popped open, and he loosened the cuffs and allowed the fabric to fall free, leaving him clad only in the shirt and cotton underwear he was wearing beneath it. The weapons hit the ground with a clatter and he bent to unfasten his boots so that he could step out of them.

As if their intentions had been understood, once they began to strip, their clasped hands came free again, and Jared, naked now, reached out the hand that had been held captive to run it down over Jensen’s chest as he struggled to get free of the heavy, magnetic soled boots. Jensen grinned. “They’re made for zero gravity,” he said. “Designed to hold me steady against the hull of my ship on cases where we lose the gravitron. They aren’t meant to be easy to take off.” He wobbled and almost fell as he tugged at one of the recalcitrant straps. Jared reached to steady him, and finally the boots were off and so was the suit. 

“And now...” Jared bent to heap up their clothing, making what he could of a soft pad on which the two of them could lie. “Guess we need to become one. I hope it doesn’t mean actually merging or anything. I kinda like my body the way it is. Not that you aren’t hot and all. It’s just...”

“God! Shut up!” Jensen tackled him back against the pile of fabric. “I get it, but we might as well find out. There doesn’t seem to be any way of getting out of here otherwise.”

He leaned forward for a tentative kiss, and his lips caught Jared’s, hot slide of tongues, mouths clinging as Jared melted against him. Jared laughed softly, but the sound was desperate, jarring, and Jensen could feel his muscles tense up under the smooth, pale skin.

“It’ll be okay,” whispered Jensen, reaching to pet the long, silky strands of his hair. “”We’re not going to die. That just doesn’t make sense in terms of a rebirth. Isn’t that what your prophecy is all about? Rebirth.”

“It didn’t work out so well for Chad,” muttered Jared, images of the dreadful moment when he realized that he would be too late to save his friend.

“The prophecy needed a blood sacrifice. It took Jake too. I couldn’t save him.” Jensen kissed Jared again, a little more forcefully this time, his tongue probing, then invading the hot, moist space behind Jared’s lips. He could feel Jared’s response in the way the other man’s cock was pressing against his belly, the way that it poured slick on him as he undulated against Jensen. Reaching down to cup Jared’s buttocks, he pulled Jared up against him, feeling his own desire beginning to swell. He was taken by surprise when Jared suddenly rolled the two of them over and claimed the upper hand.

Jensen’s gasp was swallowed as Jared cupped his face with both hands and began to lay biting kisses all over his face. To Jensen, the heat from Jared’s body felt even more blinding than Aldebaran had been, and Jensen gave himself up to be consumed in it at last, arms clasping and clinging desperately to the body that was pressed so tightly against him.

Jared moaned, a sharp, needy moan, and Jensen knew exactly what was needed, raising his knees and wrapping his legs tightly around Jared’s slim hips. He could feel Jared’s cock, sliding, questing, seeking some place to claim. A swift wriggle of his hips and Jensen managed to position it so that it was pressing against his opening, battering his cleft and sliding, forcing him open, its slick juices enabling it to push inside him.

He thought it hurt, but the pleasure of it was enough that he didn’t care, He felt stretched, burned by the invading flesh, and he gasped as Jared pushed deeper inside, dragging over something sensitive that shot sensation through him, sweet tingles that fizzed the length of his spine. He cried out and clung harder, his heels pressing Jared inside until there wasn’t a fraction of an inch that wasn’t encased in his body.

Neither of them noticed, so deeply entwined themselves, when vines pushed themselves free of the smooth basalt surface they lay in and began to grow, curling around them, there in that place that had never seen daylight. Tendrils sought and found sensitive areas of their flesh, tickling at testicles that were tightening, drawing up ready to burst their juices, sliding into openings and orifices to deliver flickers of added pleasure to their lovemaking, teasing into the wet slit of Jensen’s cock and probing Jared’s ass even as they tightened around the two men, tying them tightly together.

As they writhed together, steadily approaching their release, the ground began to shake, the deep, bell-like sound filling the air again. There were other sounds, rustling, groaning, and creaking as the world began to rearrange itself.

Jensen was the first to come, body tightening, muscles locking as the sweet explosion of sensation forces him to arch up, face contorted in pleasure as he spills, sending jets of semen up the length of his torso. One two forceful, plunging thrusts later, Jared followed, his cock driven deep inside Jensen. 

There was a sharp cracking sound, and the rock that surrounded them split, allowing a shaft of daylight to illuminate the two of them as they lay entwined. The rift in the rock and the subsequent quake had broken it into halves, creating a way through to the now open clearing in the center. From one side came Katie, shoving her way over the rubble that littered her path to reach where the two men lay. From the other side came Richard, who seemed a little less astonished at what had happened.

“Who the hell are you?” Katie was the first to reach the tangled mass of greenery that was all that could be seen of Jared and Jensen. Seeing the mass moving, she dropped to her knees and pulled out a knife to cut away the smothering greenery.

“Wait. Don’t cut it.” Richard knelt at the other side and began to carefully unravel the vines, disentangling them from the two bodies. “This first life is precious. It will set the tone for the world that has been made new.”

Frowning, Katie began to emulate him, and between the two of them they soon uncovered Jared and Jensen, who still lay clasped together, apparently now sleeping, their blissed out faces telling their own tale.

Sebastian and Aldis were summoned to help carry their sleeping bodies out from the center of the rock formation and lay them down on the sled that had brought Jared’s equipment so far across the ice. It was fast approaching darkness as the two men were set down on a very changed landscape. The ice was melting fast, and tender green shoots of grass were beginning to show through. There was a fine drizzle in the air, and Katie stopped to raise her face up to it. Traci, who had remained on the outside to watch for predators, rushed over to peer down at the two men. “They did it! They really did it.” 

Jared had begun to stir, and he opened his eyes just as Jensen moaned and raised his head. “What happened?”

“I think the earth moved,” muttered Jared.

“You’re probably going to notice that it’s a little cooler than it was,” said Traci, gesturing to Jensen’s state of undress. Katie giggled and handed Jensen his clothes, pausing to purse her lips and whistle.. 

“I always wondered what you were packing,” she giggled. “Very nice. Who’s the other guy.”

Looking around at the assembled group that seemed much larger than the team he had traveled with, Jared blushed deep red and hastily began to pull on his own insulated suit. “I’m Jared,” he muttered, moving closer to Jensen.

Jensen was looking around himself in wonder. “We did it,” he said. “We restored the world.”

“And I found you,” said Jared sliding his hand around Jensen’s neck to pull him into a long, unhurried kiss.

“And so the worlds were made new and became one,” intoned Richard, causing everyone save the two lovers to look at him in confusion. “That’s what the prophecy said. The worlds will be made one, and it will be named Aurora.”

“”According to my calculations, the shift across the dimensions began when the monolith cracked and should be complete in just under 18 minutes.” Traci was looking at her hand held device as she spoke and turned to Katie and Aldis with a smile. “Calidor will no longer be in danger, and the sun will bring life rather than death in its rays.”

“Calidor?” Sebastian looked up with a frown. “Our world is Tenebros.”

“Not any more.” Richard pointed to the melting ice, and to the greenery that was forcing its way through the rapidly dwindling ice. “This is a new world. Aurora.”

And indeed, up in the darkening sky, the green and silver curtains of an aurora unfolded themselves to hang above them as a blessing.


End file.
